Storybrooke's Water: A Tale of the Tail Lost
by Sarah Jo Dantess
Summary: Ariel was ready to marry Eric and nobly rule alongside him until Queen Regina's curse struck. Now, in Storybrooke, she's Adrienne Seas: Dr. Hopper's assistant, the sheriff's regular volunteer, and a town helper with a penchant for dumping salt into her water glasses. What happens to Adrienne when Emma comes to town and the curse begins to unravel?
1. Prologue

**Prequel**

* * *

Ariel swam as fast as her tail would propel her through the surrounding blueness. Like a bolt of lightning, she shot through the bay's waters in nearly thirty seconds, reaching the shores in no time. Dragging herself onto the sand, she pulled her body up to the point where the tide no longer reaches the land and kept shimmying. Soon her tail began to melt away as she changed into her human form.

It had not been very long since she'd learned to walk, and she stumbled to some degree upon standing and attempting to run, but caught herself in time to adjust her footing, shift her weight, and then break into a run. Nobody would have called her crazy for acting out in such a way, in such a desperate manner, for they all knew what was to come shortly.

Ariel nearly ripped her lavender dress climbing the hill to the palace, but all that bothered her were those pesky branches in the brush catching on her and slowing her down. "Move," she told them, with a wave of her hand, and they did. "Thank you," she grumbled. Finally reaching the flat ground, she kept running. A tree branch swung into her path and nearly hit her. With a screech, she ducked, and called, "_Don't_ touch me!" to it and its neighbors, and they fell back out of her way.

Irritated, she sprinted straight into the town and wove through its establishments, several people bowing to their future princess. She clumsily curtsied and greeted to them between steps. "Sorry! Gotta run!" she hollered as she rounded the pathway to the palace gates. As soon as they saw her running, the guards opened the gates. As she darted inside, she less-than-calmly and very loudly bid the guards good morning.

"_ERIC!_" she began to shriek, heading for the throne room. "Eric!"

Her shouts echoed through the castle, and the prince, upon hearing his name, left his pacing of the throne room to his father and dashed out into the hall, nearly running right smack into her. "Ariel!" It was no matter, however, because he grabbed her in his arms and held her close to himself at once. Her toes barely brushed the ground as he lifted her.

"Eric," she exhaled, tightening her arms around his shoulders.

"My dear, I thought I wouldn't see you before the curse hit us," he sighed, pressing a kiss to her fiery mane. Gently, he set her down, not letting go of her hand.

"I swam as fast as I could. It's chaos in the water out there right now. I must have knocked over at least fifty sharks, forty jellies, twenty whales, eighty schools, and…oh, poor Flounder, I was dragging him the entire way to drop him with his family. I do hope he's with them." Ariel gravely looked out of the pillars at the teal abyss.

"Love, I'm sure he's fine. He's a fish, it won't be terribly hard for him. They have the best instincts, you know." He lifted her chin up to look her in the eyes.

"I know. You're right. How are things here? The town seems to be in a small panic."

"You're correct, only it's much bigger than it is small." Ariel sighed.

"And there's nothing we can do to stop this. I wish we could give them hope."

"I have tried. All I can say to them is that we must keep faith that the curse will be broken. And James and Snow White believe it," he recounted.

Ariel let out a breath she'd been holding. "Then we must believe it. I saw her briefly this morning. I called to her from the bay of their castle and scaled the wall to their balcony. She seems well, albeit in some incredible pain."

Eric peered at her in surprise. "The child is coming?"

Ariel nodded. "Yes. Snow is convinced it will be a girl, but I'm not sure how she can know yet. We shall see, one day."

"Of course, one day. How are your father and sisters?"

Ariel grinned, but her smile faded into a sullen look. "Doing just fine. If the curse strikes before I return there, I've bid them all goodbye already. I know we'll meet again, even if it be a long time before then. You don't think she'll turn us against one another, do you?"

Eric shrugged. "I don't know what she'll do. Plague us with ogres that cannot be conquered, perhaps?"

Ariel jumped. "Eric!" she shrieked. But when she turned to look at him and saw the twinkle in his eye, she began to chuckle. "I suppose joking about it is better than being sour over it, isn't it?"

"Now, now, I might easily have been sour over it with somebody else, but you seem to make me want to be happier all the time. How do you do that?" he said with a grin, pressing his forehead to hers. She pretended to think for a moment.

"My dear Eric, had you forgotten? I knew I gave you the wrong oysters when you had that awful headache," she said, sighing dramatically. Eric laughed and gave her a gentle kiss.

"How could I let that slip my mind?" he chuckled, and kissed her again.

All at once, thunder began to roll in the distance. The two looked at one another, troubled, and abruptly hurried to the window. Hundreds of yards away a thick purple and green lighting cloud was forming and spreading over the land.

"It's her!" Ariel shouted over the thunder.

The King ran from the throne room and began to shout calming statements to anyone nearby, however, his actions did not have their desired effect. Screams erupted from every corner of the castle and carried up from the town. He threw up his hands as his wife the Queen came out front he throne room to join him, her face gone white as the sands miles below them.

"Ariel!" she cried, running to hug her future daughter-in-law.

"Sheila," Ariel murmured as she caught the older woman in the embrace.

"Your family, are they safe?" the Queen asked.

Ariel shrugged. "About as safe as anyone can be right now, madame," she assured her. Which, they both one, wasn't very safe.

The King strode over and hugged Ariel, as well, before catching his son in a manly hug. "Dear, you mustn't worry. One day things will be right again."

Ariel nodded, clasping Eric's hand. "I know, sire. I believe it. What'll we do in the meantime."

The King looked out at the approaching clouds, about 100 yards away now. "Whatever we must do. We will know."

Ariel leaned in to Eric as he held her close, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Ariel, I promise we'll be together like we wanted to again one day. I'm never losing you. I love you."

Ariel looked him in the eyes and wrapped her hands around his neck. "I love you, too, Eric," she said, just before they kissed and the purple electric haze closed in on the castle.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Let us go then, you and I,_  
_When the evening is spread out against the sky_  
_Like a patient etherized upon a table;_  
_Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,_  
_The muttering retreats_  
_Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels_  
_And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:_  
_Streets that follow like a tedious argument_  
_Of insidious intent_  
_To lead you to an overwhelming question…_  
_Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"_  
_Let us go and make our visit._

_-T. S. Eliot._

* * *

The gentle gold light at dawn crept across the window panes and spilled in slanted streams across the wooden floor, sloped upward to the mahogany frame of the bed, and tumbled in stripes across the sheets up to the pillow, where it forced its way inside the backs of Adrienne's eyes. Grumbling, she rolled over to avoid seeing any more.

She couldn't avoid the light for long, however. As the minutes passed its glow became stronger, and soon she couldn't turn any which way to fend off the brightness forcing her eyes open, except to bury her face straight into the pillow, which cut off her air supply.

Adrienne growled and let her eyes open, rolling over and staring up at the ceiling. "I hate you," she exhaled. _Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz._ Her phone rang. She awoke herself as best as she could do in two seconds and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi, Adrienne, how are you doing?" Archie Hopper's voice sounded chipper, as always, at the other end of the line. Adrienne couldn't help rolling her eyes and tried not to let her facial expression affect her tone of voice.

"Fine, Archie, and yourself?"

She cringed inwardly. Hardly a worthy performance.

"I'm great," Dr. Hopper answered. "Listen, I know you were supposed to come in today, but I'm completely unsure what you can possibly do here. It seems as if you've already done it all ahead of time, as usual. Would you like the day off?"

Adrienne held her hand over the receiver and pumped her arms victoriously. "Yes!" she whispered to herself. "I am so good."

Coughing, she spoke into the phone, "Of course, Archie, that'd be fine with me."

"Excellent. And if you do think of anything you could possibly do, feel free. It's like I've always said, you're your own boss until my files get disorganized," Archie said, laughing. Adrienne chuckled as much of a chuckle as she could muster at the ungodly hour.

"I'm always here for you, Arch. I'll see you later if I think of something."

The doctor said goodbye, and they hung up. Gratefully, Adrienne threw her phone back into its hiding place in her comforter and flopped back on her pillow. In minutes she was again asleep.

Re-awakening about an hour and a half later, Adrienne debated what to do with her day. She could go help out the nuns, see if Graham or Archie needed anything, check in on the hospital volunteers, of whom she was the volunteer chairwoman, or anything else she could think of, having the time to herself. First, though, she decided to indulge in bacon for breakfast.

As she chewed on the delightfully crunchy and tasty slabs of pork meat, she chanced a peek out of her apartment window which gave her a view of Storybrooke, and the center of it being the town's library clock tower. 8:15, as usual. Gratefully, Adrienne looked at her kitchen clock, which reported the time to be 10:23. No way she was waking up any earlier than she needed to, ever. And if she did, well…then it certainly wouldn't be a good thing.

Most nights, recently, she'd been waking up from horrible nightmares involving herself underwater and a rampant chase by a school of great whites. It was odd, though, because she'd always been able to outswim them. Of course, she attributed that to the fact that it was all a dream. Still, the very sight of the horrifying fishes was enough to startle her and wake her as she shouted that she could no longer breathe.

Even more disturbing was that she couldn't shake the _deja vu_ she felt each time she awoke with a start, covering her mouth so her screams wouldn't escape through her apartment's walls to her neighbors. Of course, Adrienne spent plenty of time swimming whenever it wasn't deathly chilly in Storybrooke, Maine, but never had she recalled actually being chased by sharks.

Adrienne reluctantly recalled all these things and shook her head of red waves. Perhaps a nice morning jog would clear her head.

The morning air that fall was feeling like cool lotion on her skin and smelled intoxicating. So intoxicating, perhaps, that as she ran, she nearly lost track of everything going on around her. This became painfully obvious to her the minute she rounded a corner to the main street that ran through the town and almost collided with one of the young men she was friends with.

"_Erp!_" she screeched as she spun to the side with her arms out, bringing herself to a stop. "Oh my god, I'm so sor—"

"Whoa, whoa, Adrienne! Where are you headed to so quickly?" There was no doubt of a smile in his voice. The young man put his arms out to steady her. His hands grazed her shoulders as he did.

Adrienne brought her focus away from the morning air and back to the real world, and looked up quickly. Her sea blue eyes meeting his sky blue ones, she immediately began to laugh. She hugged him as she caught her breath.

"Eli!" she exclaimed, burying her face into his jacket. He always smelled heavenly, but she was never going to let him know that, especially when she smelled worse than he did at the present moment. She pulled back and grinned. "Hey! I'm not going anywhere, I'm just working out."

"Good for you! I, for one, certainly wish I were as dedicated as you." His teeth flashed that perfect smile she loved to see. She and Eli Duke were already in the same friend group. He never noticed it, but sometimes, Adrienne would just watch him, taking particular note of his lips and teeth. It wasn't fair that he got such good sets of them both.

Adrienne waved her hand at his comment, brushing it aside. "I'm not dedicated, I just enjoy it."

"Well, in that case, you're _weird_." Eli dropped chin, emphasizing the word. Adrienne shrugged.

"I can be when I want to be. What can I say?" Eli laughed.

"Nothing else with that kind of arrogance." They paused to laugh before he continued. "So what are you up to today?"

Adrienne spun in a circle with her arms out. "Nothing at all! Archie gave me the day off." Eli grinned.

"That's perfect! Want to get lunch with me later at Granny's?" he asked, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Adrienne nodded. "Sure! 12:30?"

Eli nodded. "12:30."

"Awesome! I'll see you then, but I really should keep my heart rate up right now!" She started to walk away and waved. He backed up, as well, and waved.

"Keep working, girl! See you later!"

"Bye, Eli!" she called as she broke into a run once again, this time watching where she was going.

At 12:15 Adrienne was freshly showered, made-up, and dressed. Hurriedly, she left her apartment and texted Eli: "On my way!"

The walk to Granny's diner wasn't far and she made it there in about fifteen minutes, after stopping to chat briefly with her friend Ashley, who was now very pregnant and delivering laundry. Eli was already sitting at a table with two hot chocolates when she walked in.

"Hey," she said, as he stood up from his seat in the booth to hug her. She smiled at him as she sat down across from him. He grinned and pushed a hot chocolate toward her. "Thank you," she said, sipping gratefully.

While she paused to hold her hand over her mouth and lick the excess whipped cream off of her lip, he spoke. "So, Adrienne, how exactly are you, now that you're not running around unable to hold a conversation at the moment?"

Adrienne chuckled. "I'm good, thank you very much. Although, I think I'm much better at holding a conversation while out of breath than you think."

"Are you, now? I couldn't tell." Eli laughed. "How long did you run for?"

"About forty-five minutes, the recommended amount."

"And you know all of this from working with a doctor, don't you?"

"Obviously." Adrienne waved her hand. She was surprised at how well she was keeping her cool right now. She asked Eli how he was doing so he could start talking, and she could just watch him, while, she made a mental note to herself, paying attention to what he was saying. His full dark hair had gotten just long enough to touch his eyebrows and as he worked his fingers through it while he talked, which, she noticed he did a lot, it tended to lose its grooming. It started to stick up at the back and just at the top of his head. His blue eyes were bright and intense as he talked, and coupled with his dark, animated eyebrows, were an ideal communication team. His eyes could always tell a person exactly what he was thinking, even if his words could not.

"So, that's how Graham stopped me from nearly taking a head off of someone," Eli finished his story.

Adrienne blinked, pretending to be shocked, when she really had not _completely_ heard Eli's tale in its entirety. She raised her hot chocolate. "To Graham Humbert, for keeping you sane." Eli chuckled and did the same, clinking their glasses, setting his down on the table, and gulping some hot chocolate like it was a shot of whiskey. He sputtered, still managing to swallow his sip, while Adrienne roared with laughter.

"Not Fireball, huh?" she said, doing the same as he had done, but with much more caution. Eli guffawed when she set her glass down.

"Here, you have some whipped cream on your face…" he said, taking a napkin and reaching across the table to dab her upper lip with it.

Adrienne froze. Could she remember a time when he had touched her this gently before, or was this completely new and she was just being paranoid? She tried to make it seem like she wasn't completely welcoming to his touch nor completely opposed to it. When he sat back in his seat, she wiped her lip with her finger aside, and briefly said, "Thanks."

Ruby, Adrienne's friend and also a waitress at Granny's diner, came and took their orders. In no time, they were both chowing down on cheeseburgers and french fries.

"Mmm," Adrienne said as she bit into some cheese. Making sure she wasn't talking with food in her mouth, she continued, "I don't think I ever get anything else besides the cheeseburgers when I come here, Eli. They're too good and I never want to miss out."

"I know," said Eli, who didn't remember to observe the food-in-mouth-no-talking rule. He shoved an entire quarter of the cheeseburger into his mouth and chomped on it. Adrienne tried not to laugh and kept to her french fries. But they were making her a little bit parched. By habit, she dumped a chunk of salt into her water glass and drank gratefully.

Eli furrowed his brow as she did. "Have you always done that? Or is that some new health kick?"

"Done what?" Adrienne asked, taking another swig of salt water.

"Put salt into your water."

"You _don't _put salt in your water?"

"Not that I can recall, no."

This caused Adrienne to think on it a bit more. In fact, he was right—she _had_ always put salt in her water. She hated the way freshwater tasted. She tried to remember back as far as she could to where she'd started doing that, but found that she couldn't remember very much at all.

"Huh," she observed, drinking again. "No, I think I've always done that. I can't really remember when I started doing it, but as far as I can recall, I've been drinking salt water."

"And you haven't had to go to a hospital for that?"

"What?"

"You know, too much salt in your system and your blood cells explode or implode or something like that?"

"No, actually, I don't know."

"Anyway. You've never had medical issues with that?"

Adrienne shook her head. "No, I've never had any medical issues at all." Her mind brought in another direction, she unconsciously changed the subject. "Oh, that reminds me, I should get down to the hospital soon and figure out what they need."

"Oh, that's right. You're in charge of the volunteers, aren't you?" Adrienne nodded.

"That would be me. It looks like we're needing more books donated to read to the patients. At least that's what the nurses tell me. Dr. Whale, no offense to the guy, isn't that much help for the volunteers. He's too busy taking care of the actual medical issues. We just address the emotional needs while they're getting well again. Usually that's what the nurses do best, besides help Dr. Whale, but usually they have more time to help him than talk, read, or entertain."

"That's really cool. I think I could ask a few folks if they have books they'd like to donate, if you need any," Eli said, finishing his hamburger.

"Really?" Adrienne piped up, her tone brightening. Eli nodded.

"Of course."

"Oh, that's be fantastic, Eli! Thank you!" she bubbled, reaching over to pat his hand quickly. However, it ended up being more of a slap due to her speed and wanting to not make contact last for too long. He rubbed his hand.

"Ow?" he offered, chuckling.

"Oops. Sorry," Adrienne siad, this time patting his hand much more slowly and gently. He looked at her and shook his head.

"I know you enjoy hurting people, Adrienne, but I think you should at least make an exception for me."

Adrienne waved her hand as she bit into her last fry and took a swig of salt water. "Yeah, well, you may think that. However, I'm going to need proof." She picked up her scarf and coat and worked them both on as she stood. Then she dug in her pocket for some cash. As she handed it to Eli, however, he pushed her hand back.

"Keep it," he said. "It's on me."

Adrienne thought to argue with him, but she settled for hugging him goodbye.

"Thanks, Eli!"

"No problem. And I will prove that you should make an exception for me when you hurt people."

Adrienne smirked and wound her scarf around her neck as she walked away. "Riiiiiiight," she said, loud enough for him to hear.

Soon she ended up at the hospital and was speaking with the head nurse.

"You're certainly right about the facility needing more books for patients in recovery, Miss Seas. And if there's anything else you can think of, just let me know," the woman said.

Adrienne nodded. "Of course! I'll be right on that. Have you got the list of volunteers for me? I haven't met all of them just yet. Although, considering the size of this town, I probably know them already." In response, the woman handed her a thick file. Adrienne took it gratefully. "Excellent," she said as she began to poke through its pages. She stopped her search when someone ran into her, making her drop the file. "Oh! Bother," she commented.

She looked down at her feet and saw her friend, Mary Margaret Blanchard, a schoolteacher and volunteer, picking up the files and apologizing profusely. Adrienne grinned and bent over to help her.

"Mare, don't worry, it was an accident. This could have been china! It's all about perspective." Mary Margaret looked up from picking up the mess of papers and laughed.

"Thank god it was you, Adrienne. If it had been anyone else I'd have been yelled at, and I just don't enjoy that," Mary Margaret rambled. Adrienne could certainly understand. Mary Margaret was perhaps the kindest, sweetest person Adrienne knew, and also sensitive, especially to criticism. While that wasn't like Adrienne, she definitely recognized the importance of being familiar with another's personality. What might tear one person to pieces might be absolutely nothing to worry about to another.

"I know, Mary Margaret. I'll never yell at you unless you're far away where you can't hear me and you've also punched me in the face from such a distance."

"So, basically, never?" Adrienne nodded and winked.

"Exactly. Have you just gotten out of school?" Adrienne asked as the last file was collected.

Mary Margaret nodded as they stood up. "Sure did. Thought I might stop by for a bit. Did you work today?"

Adrienne shook her head. "I should stop by Archie's office and the sheriff's office and see, but Archie gave me the day off and I always find out if Graham needs anything. He even asks me to help him make arrests and things like that, even though I'm really just the organizer. Thankfully, I haven't had to do anything like that. The man is so disorderly he couldn't tie his own shoes if I weren't doing it for him."

Mary Margaret laughed. "That sounds like Graham, all right. Anything you need around here, volunteer chairperson?"

"We are in need of more books, if you can find any."

"Adrienne, I'm a schoolteacher. Of course I can find books."

"Of course you can. I was just testing you."

"Let's have a fun night soon, okay?"

"Agreed! I can do just about any time, my schedule is the most flexible."

"Okay! I'll call you."

"Yay! Okay, I've gotta run, I'll see you later!"

As Adrienne shuffled around in Archie's office later, cleaning up for the next day, her cell phone rang. She answered it and rested the receiver between her ear and shoulder.

"Yello," she answered.

"Adrienne, I need your help searching for a missing child."

Adrienne cringed inwardly. Graham.

"Sheriff, not that I don't want to help, but we've been over this. I'm not your deputy, I'm your organizer."

"It's Henry Mills, Adrienne."

_Thud._

Adrienne picked her phone up off the floor to Graham's repeated, "Hello? Hello? Adrienne? You there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Where are you? Of course I'll help."

Half an hour later Adrienne met him in front of the dilapidated library. "Henry Mills is missing? But where could he have gone? Mary Margaret didn't say anything about him being out of school today."

"She thought he was sick. The attendance office checked up on him and found nothing. They just called Ms. Mills and she had thought he was in school," Graham explained, in his usual all-business stance. Sometimes Adrienne thought he was more dedicated to his job than Storybrooke needed. But not in this case, the case of a missing child.

"Have you checked anywhere yet?"

"School grounds and the town, already. Let's try the toll bridge, Dr. Hopper's office, Granny's hotel, any place we can think of," he said as they started down the main street for his patrol car.

"Okay, not Dr. Hopper's office. I was just there. Archie hasn't seen him today, I know."

They climbed into the patrol car. "See, this is why I call you for this stuff, Miss Seas. You seem to know everything. It's a bit weird."

"Not everything, just more than you," Adrienne pointed out as they headed toward the toll bridge.

Graham chuckled.

After having searched for Henry everywhere, including _in _the harbor, as in the water in the harbor, which scared Graham and was easy to Adrienne, they had come up with nothing. Both resolved to change out of their wet clothing and meet up at the Mills house. It was just beginning to get dark when they arrived. Adrienne knocked on the mayor's front door. The flustered, barking woman opened the door, jabbering on about Adrienne's inability to find her son. When they stepped inside into the landing, Adrienne turned to her.

"No offense, ma'am, but this isn't even my job. I could say screw finding your son if I didn't care about him. We all love him very much and are doing our best with what we have. Now, making accusations about my incompetency isn't going to help find him, now, is it?"

Adrienne towered over the Mayor at 5'8", and stared silencingly into the woman's eyes. When she didn't respond, Adrienne repeated the question. "_Is_ it?"

The Mayor swallowed. Without apologizing, she offered dinner to Adrienne weakly.

Graham had already arrived, and missing the commotion in the front room, was seated at the dinner table. Adrienne slid into a seat next to him. While Regina was in the kitchen, Graham looked at Adrienne with an expression that said that he had heard the whole thing. Adrienne responded by smashing her lips together and shifting her eyes and head toward the kitchen, as to say that it was just the woman and he needn't worry.

After dinner, Graham, Regina, and Adrienne ran some questions and ideas for where Henry might have gone. When Adrienne started to feel tired, Graham guided her by the shoulder to the hall. "You've been an incredible help today. You should get some sleep."

"But what about Henry?"

"I think we've done all we can do for now. Come on, I'll take you home."

Back at her apartment, Adrienne got out of Graham's truck and thanked him. "Please," she said, placing her hands on the open window pane, "call me the minute you hear anything new. Okay?"

Graham nodded. "Okay. Adrienne," he said, noticing her sour expression as she turned to walk away. She turned back to him. "We'll find him. I know it." Adrienne shrugged.

"I suppose you know at least one thing that I don't, now." Graham laughed and so did she as she let herself in to her building.

When she had changed into warm pajamas and made herself some tea, Adrienne checked her phone and found a text from Eli.

"Enjoyed getting to catch up today. Any plans for the weekend?" Adrienne smiled and typed out a reply.

"I did, too. Nope, not yet!"

Moments later her phone rang with a call. "Hello?"

"Adrienne, hey, it's me, Eli."

"Eli…who?"

"Oh, come on, that is not funny."

"I'm serious! I have no idea who this Eli is that you're talking about!" Adrienne insisted as Eli guffawed on the other end of the line. "So it is funny!"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I was calling to see if you wanted to spend Saturday with me. We don't have to come up with a plan just yet, if you don't know."

Adrienne grinned. "Well…hang on, looks like I'll have to check my schedule…oh, now, where is it?" she stalled, finding a sick pleasure in making him wait for her answer. She spent about two minutes "looking" for her agenda, which, if he knew the extent of how organized she kept her collections, would have given her away as a liar immediately. But, he seemed nervous enough to allow her to take her time, which she kept up to three minutes, before she finally answered, "Looks like I'm free on Saturday! But should I stay inside all day or hang out with you?"

"Obviously you should hang out with me, duh. You're smart, you can figure it out."

Adrienne chuckled. "Okay, Saturday. Get back to me tomorrow with some ideas of what you want to do, all right?"

"Okay, Adrienne. See you soon. Good night!"

"Good night, Eli!" As she hung up, the phone almost immediately rang again. "Hello?"

"Adrienne, Henry's back home."

Adrienne sighed with relief. "Thank god. Is he okay? How did you find him?"

"His birth mother actually brought him back home. She's just left," Graham explained.

"Oh, good…hang on. His _birth mother_? Henry is adopted?"

"Yes, the mother's name is Emma Swan. She lives in Boston. He went all the way there to track her down."

Adrienne sucked in a breath of air. "Wow. Who knew. At least he's back home. Thanks for calling me, Graham."

"Anytime. Thank you for your help today."

"Anytime. Good night, sheriff."

"Night, Adrienne."

Adrienne hung up the phone, downed her tea, and climbed into bed after the long day. She was so exhausted, she was sure she'd only been seeing things when she could have sworn the town clock, broken and stuck at 8:15, suddenly changed hands to read 8:16.


End file.
